Familiar Indian Flowers: with Coloured Plates/Barleria Cristata

IN some parts of India this plant and many of the same species are found growing wild and most luxuriantly in the jungles.

It is, however, so ornamental that it deserves a place in every garden; the bush is of a compact and pleasing growth, and when in blossom forms an agreeable spectacle, but unfortunately it soon loses its pretty appearance, as the delicate flowers droop and wither very quickly, and a shower of rain spoils them at once.

During the cold weather it grows in great luxuriance in the jungles about Chota Nagpore, and Roxburgh says "it grows wild in the forests of Silhet.”

The long throat-like corolla of the flower is of a paler colour than the lips.

There are some varieties of the Barlerias which bear their flowers on wheat-like heads, each flower growing out of a division of the so-called wheat. One of these I have seen growing to a great extent, the stems being erect and the flowers a deep crimson. Another has a pale orange flower; this is a smaller plant, and is often kept as a pot plant to decorate verandahs.

The juice from the leaves of this variety "is given to children in fevers. The ashes of the burnt plant are also used medicinally.”—Ainslie.

The easiest mode of propagation is by division of roots; the seed so soon drops or is blown away that it is difficult to gather it.